Arriving in a slight mist rain at the Helderberg Reserve in Somerset West, I realized that I had not packed in my rain jacket. Nor had I bought that pair on longs / tights as I promised myself earlier in the week. It was gonna be cold and wet!

Anyway, after having paid my R 120 entry fee and driven for an hour to get there, I was not about to leave without having run.

The tough guys started at 07h00, doing the 24km Helderberg Mountain Challenge Extreme. The 15km runners left a little later and the 10,75km set off at 09h00.

All of us had to go up the mountain, hence the name. It was a trail run after all, so uphills, single track and some climbing was expected. Hearing from a fit friend (15th in the 24km) how he finished in 4h15, I sure was glad I only took on the 10,75 km run.

High up the view was amazing and even though it was cloudy, I still had a view all the way to Rooi Els.

The downhills were very tricky with either moss on the sides of the single track or sections of slippery mud.

By the time I finished it wasn’t quite summer, but there was no rain and even a glimpse of sun.

Having been messed around last year with ill informed marshals I was a bit skeptical of this year’s run. All went well though and I plan to be back in 2013.